METAPHORICAL CONCEPTIONS OF TEACHER ROLES IN ONLINE WRITING EDUCATION: INSIGHTS FROM EFL TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63506/jilc.1001.429Keywords:
Metaphor analysis; teacher roles; online writing instruction; EFL; lecturer–student perceptionsAbstract
This study examines how EFL lecturers and students in Vietnam conceptualize teachers’ roles in online writing instruction through metaphor. Grounded in Conceptual Metaphor Theory and a five-dimensional framework of teacher roles, the study adopts a quantitative descriptive design based on coded responses collected from 20 lecturers and 132 students through metaphor elicitation questionnaires. The findings reveal a clear divergence between the two groups. Lecturers tend to favor metaphors associated with guidance, development, and support, reflecting a view of teaching as accompaniment and strategic facilitation. By contrast, students more often construct teachers as authority figures and transmitters of knowledge, which suggests expectations of supervision and one-way instruction. The contrast becomes more evident in metaphors related to presence and emotion: while lecturers position themselves as sources of encouragement, students often perceive teachers as distant or insufficiently present in the online environment. These findings point to a continuing cognitive gap between lecturers and students and highlight the coexistence of traditional and more developmental conceptions of teacher roles in online learning.
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